Fall River's hills and curves make a thrilling course for athletes

Thursday

Jan 30, 2014 at 10:20 AMJan 30, 2014 at 12:16 PM

Neighbors brought out lawn chairs and lined the street as if waiting for a parade, but the parade never came. Instead, people on long boards and skateboards whizzed by at increasing speeds. Lines from their polyurethane wheels streaked and crisscrossed the pavement all the way down Fall River's Pearce Street. They would disappear after a couple of good rains and, with them, the last physical evidence of the Fall River Bomb.

ALEXANDER SILVA

Neighbors brought out lawn chairs and lined the street as if waiting for a parade, but the parade never came. Instead, people on long boards and skateboards whizzed by at increasing speeds. Lines from their polyurethane wheels streaked and crisscrossed the pavement all the way down Fall River's Pearce Street. They would disappear after a couple of good rains and, with them, the last physical evidence of the Fall River Bomb.

People from as far away as Boston, parts of Rhode Island and western Massachusetts met at the top of the street late last summer and looked down its cascading dips with excitement. With two activities planned for the second annual long-boarding event late last year — the Slide Jam and the Fall River Run — there was plenty to be excited about.

In the skating world, a "bomb" implies zooming down a hill or slope on a board.

This event was aptly named.

The geography of Fall River is just as much a part of the city's identity as anything. At one time, its hills separated the wealthy from the working class, but at this event they brought people together.

What originally started with five local skaters — Zach Sonallah, Alex Sousa, Jake Viera, Abel Viveiros and Clovis Alves — turned into an event with 60 registered skaters and several dozen onlookers and spectators.

The Fall River Run, the heart of the event, was a trans-city cruise through much of the historic, downtown, and waterfront areas of Fall River.

"We used to do this by ourselves," Sousa said. "We would just start at Tedeschi's way up on New Boston Road and just skate through the whole city. We did it once and it was really fun and we kept doing it. We just wanted other people to experience what we did because it kind of meant summer for us in a lot of ways."

Believing demand existed for a local event, the five friends decided to make something happen themselves.

"We actually sat down last summer with a pen and a map and mapped out this route. And since then we added the Slide Jam just so everyone can have fun together," Sonallah said.

The Slide Jam is a lot like it sounds: it requires competitors to turn their boards perpendicular to the direction of motion and use their momentum to, in a sense, slide down the street.

A small ramp known as a "kicker" was also built for the event, giving the more daring a chance for some air.

A growing phenomenon, the spirit of long-boarding has been spreading across the country. It's all-inclusive nature with no pressure to perform tricks is welcoming for people who simply like to skate.

"That's why I think the Fall River Run is the most important part of it — because its not about winning anything, it's not about being the best. It's just about chilling and having fun, being part of the city and enjoying this great weather," Sousa said.

While skating around Boston one day, the Fall River group befriended another group of skaters and felt obligated to talk up their hometown. But most of the Boston skaters they met had never been to Fall River.

"We told them a bunch of times to come down, come down, but they never did," Sousa said. "Finally we organized this event and part of it was because they needed to see this hill."

Jason Bottiglio, a founding member of the social group, came from Somerville to skate in Fall River for the first time.

"Scenes like this really make a difference," he said. "I showed up and I knew people which is pretty cool."

Forest Wood of Boston sat on the grass after the event with a fresh cut on his knee. It was his first time skating in Fall River, too.

"The hills are great. The whole neighborhood's great. I'm probably going to stay here at least another two hours and just check out some spots before we go back into Boston," he said.

Sponsors ranging from big industry names to local skate shops, including Fall River's Lizzie Boarding Skate Shop, donated merchandise. Free energy drinks flowed, competitors filled a donation box for World Land Trust and tunes rang out from a makeshift DJ table, giving Pearce Street the look of a block party.

The scene was all the more amazing considering events like this are often outlawed. The stigma that follows skateboarding sometimes casts a dark shadow, with people often assuming crime and debauchery go hand-in-hand with the sport. The event's inspiration, an 8-mile race called the Broadway Bomb in New York City, is declared illegal every year by court order and any participants are subject to arrest. That doesn't stop the event from happening, but Sonallah thought it a good idea to try and get the Fall River Bomb sanctioned at the last minute.

"We literally were approved for the permit yesterday and didn't even get the permit in paper yet because it's still being printed," he said as the event concluded.

Fall River approved all but one activity — a downhill race along the curves of Weetamoe Street and Snake Hill at North Park. Fall River Auxiliary Police set up barricades going all the way down Pearce Street for safety.

Sandra Pessoa, Mayor Will Flanagan's executive secretary, worked with the group to meet deadlines.

Residents, who had two days' notice to move their cars, sat outside their houses to watch and cheer on participants. One neighbor fixed a generator to restore music.

Sonallah, Sousa, Viera, Viveiros and Alves said they hope to make the Fall River Bomb a biannual event.

"And we want to add that race," Sousa said. "The feeling of being right next to someone, going like 30 miles an hour, turning as hard as you can ... that's great. There's nothing like that. And Snake Road is perfect for that."